Maria Kyrarini is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and David Packard Jr. Faculty Fellow at Santa Clara University (SCU). She leads the Human-Machine Interaction & Innovation (HMI2) research group which has been supported by federal (NSF) and SCU internal grants.  Prior to SCU, she was a postdoctoral research fellow at the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bremen under the supervision of Professor Dr.-Eng. Axel Gräser. Before that, she received her M.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and her M.Sc. degree in Automation Systems both from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Her primary research interests are in the fields of Robot Learning from Demonstrations, Human-Robot Interaction, and Assistive Robotics with a special focus on enhancing Human Performance. 

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Manizheh Zand is an enthusiastic engineer with an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University. She has co-founded www.mymentortree.org, a non-profit corporation with a vision of building self-esteem and passion for STEM technology within underserved students. In the past, Manizheh has held positions as a Tenure Track Engineering Instructor, Adjunct Faculty, and Embedded Hardware Design Engineer. She was a co-founder of a school for developmentally disabled people and co-founder of a Commercial Construction Corporation. She studied Petroleum Engineering at the Sharif University of Technology. Manizheh is currently pursuing her Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. 

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Krishna Kodur received his Bachelor's in Technology in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Silchar, India, and his Master's in Computer Science from the University of Colorado, Boulder, USA. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in reinforcement learning for human-robot collaboration in assistive robotics under the supervision of Dr. Maria Kyrarini. 

Hambal Tella received his Bachelor of Science (B.Sc) in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Nigeria, and a research-based master's program in Electrical Engineering with his thesis focused on deep learning algorithms from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Saudi Arabia. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at Santa Clara University, USA, in assistive robotics.  

Aly Khater is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. He had a passion for Robotics since he started working. After high school, he worked for 6 years before coming back to school to pursue his degree. Started at DeAnza Community College and now at Santa Clara University, working closely with Dr. Maria Kyrarini with Project Hermes.

Matt Tognotti is a fourth-year Electrical and Computer Engineering student at Santa Clara University. He is working on multi-sensor fusion for simultaneous localization and mapping. Additionally, Matt is working on a mobile manipulator to pick and place items through speech commands. He is the recipient of the Kuehler Undergraduate Research Award 2023.

Julia Lang is a fourth-year Computer Science student with a Data Science Emphasis and Math minor at Santa Clara University. Under the supervision and mentorship of Assistant Professor Maria Kyrarini, Julia is assisting Ph.D. students Manizheh Zand and Krishna Kodur with a research study surrounding Human-Robot Interaction, specifically with data organization and interpretation.

Aidan O’Hare is a fourth year Electrical and Computer Engineering student with a strong passion for control systems and robotics. He is currently involved in an NSF funded project in which he and others are trying to reduce odometry drift within the lab’s Ridgeback Robot from Clearpath Robotics. He is also involved in the development of an autonomous quadruped robot for his team’s senior design project in which this robot is being developed for use by first responders for life saving applications. When he’s not doing research, senior design, coursework or working at our school’s Media Services Department you can usually find him playing the saxophone. He’ll either be just jamming out with friends or practicing for one of his school’s ensembles. In addition to music he also enjoys hiking and nature photography.

Chris Phan is a fourth-year student at Santa Clara University with two majors in Mathematics and Computer Science and a minor in Electrical Engineering. He has a strong passion for control systems and robotics along with interests in a few other areas like analog circuit design. Under the supervision of Assistant Professor Maria Kyrarini, he is collaborating with Maya Murphy and Allison Zone on a research project with the title "Control Framework of a Socially Assistive Robot."